The position of a funeral director is a vast service that really does epitomise several roles within the business. A funeral director they will offer support and guidance for the family and liaise on your behalf with a wide range of other organisations and services to ensure the funeral is appropriately organised.
Undoubtedly, funerals are highly emotional experiences for the relatives or friends of a deceased person. Funeral directors offer support to the bereaved and, more significantly, ensure the success of funeral ceremonies. If you reckon that emotional stamina will be something you possess and helping others is something that would offer you the job satisfaction, this is a career that would suit you. In this blog, we will discuss the role of a funeral director and what the specific tasks and various job roles there are in a funeral home.
To find out more about what a funeral director can offer you, please read on!
Since the origins of time, the sense of ceremony surrounding funerals has been a constant in society. Funerals are a way of honouring the deceased and to help the loved ones of the deceased person cope with grief. Funerals, like all ceremonies, are intrinsically related to the society in which they occur. As society has moved forward, so have funerals. The emphasis on funeral customs in the UK has undergone a shift in recent years. These days those in the funeral service industry are concerned with the emotional and physical well-being of the survivors. This shift in outlook has resulted in an increased need for sensitivity and empathy in funeral home workers.
What do funeral directors do?
There are several duties that a Funeral director are responsible for. This includes facilitating funerals as well as organising the day-to-day running of funeral company. They will organise various meetings with the family or whoever is in control of the service of the deceased to understand the funeral details and advise them throughout this time. A large number of funeral directors time will involve paperwork and event coordination, they must carry out several documents for clients and stick to a tight timeline for funerals, as well as dealing with several at once. As well as this, funeral directors will care for financial accounts, employee training, inventory monitoring, and other internal processes. Work hours can be drawn out since they must be on-call at all hours. Many funeral directors describe their career as demanding but also worthy.
After planning your requirements, a funeral director’s member will get the ball rolling for the funeral taking responsibility for organising all aspects of the service and carrying it to the best professional standards. As well as this,it is worth noting that it’s worth taking into account of the funeral director you work alongside is verified by the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD).
Funeral director responsibilities
Those who select a career as a funeral director and will coordinate and carry out the entire requirements for a funeral. They work with the family of the deceased to arrange the whole funeral from the beginning to the end. These duties include organizing the funeral performance, the officiant (a clergy member or other selected person), and how and where the remains will ultimately be laid to rest. In some cases, the deceased may have left behind detailed instructions for his or her own funeral. The funeral director will respect these wishes and organize any other logistics such as transporting the body, arranging times and dates, and where the services will be done.
Moreover, Funeral directors have plenty of other responsibilities including preparing obituary notices and distributing them to media outlets in accordance with the wishes of the family. They will also arrange for clergy and pallbearers, schedule the opening and closing of a grave with a representative of the cemetery, prepare and decorate the sites of all services, and ensure the transportation for the remains, mourners, and flowers between sites. Funeral directors are also required to oversee the preparation and transportation of the remains for out-of-state burials, following accordance to the laws and regulations.
Some of the various other roles of a funeral director would include:
Liaising with families
Funeral directors typically spend a large amount of time discussing the needs and requirements of the family regarding funeral arrangements. Moreover, communicating with sensitivity and clarity in order to help those loved ones of the deceased person make the right decisions for them. As well as this, a funeral director will need to help the family in exploring the options they have in regards to cremation or burial options and the conceptualization of obituaries and explain the necessary cost breakdowns.
Coordinating the service
It’s down to funeral directors to facilitate funerals in keeping with a family’s preferences. They will oversee all of the logistics as well as reserve a venue to be arranged for clergy members. The main priority is ensuring that the funeral runs according to plan, those in this position must be alert at all times during these proceedings, and should stay in line with industry regulations.
Filing legal documents
A crucial thing involved with the planning of a funeral is carrying out legal paperwork such as life insurance and Social Security. Funeral directors will have the role of interviewing the loved ones of the deceased for relevant information and obtaining, filling out, and submitting the necessary documents.
Managing operations
Funeral directors will manage several sections of a funeral home’s day-to-day running. They frequently working with accountants to maintain records, make purchases, organise payroll as well as tax processing, and prepare budgets. Other duties would include creating marketing plans.
Supervision
Due to the seniority of a funeral director role, funeral directors will delegate tasks to employees. Moreover, they will provide training in relation to funeral policies and procedures, and also play a part in the recruitment of staff members, such as embalmers and funeral attendants.
Qualities
Working within this sort of environment certainly needs a specific type of person and there are undoubtedly specific qualities that will make certain people highly eligible to work in the funeral sector. This includes:
Strong communication skills
Discretion and a dignified respectful manner
Empathy
Compassion
Understanding of different types of religious and cultural beliefs
Strong organisation skills
Emotional strength to deal with other people’s grief
Good management skills
At a celebration of life, a memorial ceremony or following a more simple cremation, the funeral reception may form a part of an afternoon or evening dedicated to remembering the person. Hotels, leisure centres, community centres, gardens, pubs and even football grounds can be booked as funeral reception venues, while other families choose to host people at home. Your funeral director can help you to organise a venue for the wake and with the catering arrangements, to enable you to focus on your loved one.
Here at T&I Stockman we understand that coping with the loss of a loved one is a highly difficult experience for anyone to cope with. Lots of people feel a little overwhelmed and don’t know how to start arranging funeral services. We recommend that you get in contact with us at a time of your convenience so that we can help you begin the process of organising the funeral. We can organise funerals anywhere, including churches, crematoriums and burial grounds. However, you may also wish to consider a funeral at one of our private Service Chapels.
The experienced team at Stockman & Loram in Paignton and Brixham, work hard to make sure that every funeral service is totally personalised. We will work with you and your family to reflect the life of your loved one being remembered. We can organise non-religious funerals, traditional church services, cremations at Torquay and Exeter Crematoriums or spoken services at cemeteries and green burial sites like Conqueror Wood in Torquay and Sharpham Burial Ground near Totnes. Get in touch with our friendly team to find out more, they’ll be happy to help.
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